Well, it may be the off season for golf, but we now have ourselves at interesting story developing in the golf space that has subsequently spilled "outside the ropes" and into the non-endemic sport media.
Golf Digest's December issue carries a "fake" interview between Dan Jenkins and Tiger and it's created quite a stir in the last 24hrs - for golf at least. You can view the original article here.
It's an interesting story in itself as it re-ignites some history between the two, but what I found more intriguing was the use of Derek Jeter's new "The Players Tribune" site to publish Tiger's official response to the article - from his POV - and not tigerwoods.com. Founded by Jeter, "The Players Tribune" provides "a new media platform that will present the unfiltered voices of professional athletes, bringing fans closer to the games they love then ever before." Is this just a glorified athlete blog or is it gearing up for much more?
It's this part of Tiger's official response process that I find most interesting. Once the "direct letter to the publisher" was executed, the next step was to set the record straight publicly via Jeter's new media platform - "Straight Up" - versus the athlete's own official domain. Are we entering a new phase of athlete digital communications? Is there a wider agenda at play here? Is the Digest article just a bit of fun or has it stepped over the mark. Anyway, you can make your own opinions and see how this whole thing pans out over the coming days/weeks before Tiger appears on Tour again at the Hero World Challenge.